Zaon XRX Serial Port data

Datadriver

Datadriver

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Datadriver
Has anyone done any programming to try and read the serial port of the Zaon XRX? I'm trying to write an application that will store the traffic information
into a database.

This unit outputs in 1 of 3 different formats:
profile 1
profile 2
GARMIN

Unfortunately, I don't know what those formats are and cannot find them defined anywhere. Calls and emails to Zaon go unanswered.

Does anyone at POA know what these are and/or have an algorithm to decode them?

Garmin tells me they are sending TIS-A inside ARINC429, but that doesn't help because I don't know the ARINC labels identifiers used by Zaon.
:mad2:
 
Profile 1 (used by Anywhere Map and some of the other products) seems to be just simple text output. You probably can intuit it by just looking.

The serial port specs are 57.6k 8-n-1.
 
This is a hex dump of profile1 at 57.6k 8N1 while traffic was
being received. At first glance the $ symbols made me think
this was some NMEA dialect, but still not interpretable.:confused:

24 70 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 75 00 $p............u.
00 00 00 00 00 00 e5 24 70 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .......$p.......
00 00 00 00 00 75 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 e5 24 71 .....u........$q
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 75 00 00 00 ............u...
00 00 00 00 e6 24 70 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .....$p.........
00 00 00 75 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 e5 24 7b 00 00 ...u........${..
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 35 36 00 00 00 00 ..........56....
00 00 e6 24 7b 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ...${...........
00 35 36 00 00 00 00 00 00 e6 24 7b 00 00 00 00 .56.......${....
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 35 36 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........56......
e6 24 7b 77 7a 77 6c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 34 .${wzwl........4
36 00 00 00 00 00 00 b9 24 7b 74 7a 77 64 00 00 6.......${tzwd..
00 00 00 00 00 00 34 36 00 00 00 00 00 00 ae 24 ......46.......$
7b 74 7a 77 65 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 34 36 00 {tzwe........46.
00 00 00 00 00 af 24 7b 75 7a 77 67 00 00 00 00 ......${uzwg....
00 00 00 00 34 36 00 00 00 00 00 00 b2 24 7b 75 ....46.......${u
7d 74 6b 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 34 00 00 00 00 }tk........4....
00 00 00 80 24 7b 72 7d 74 6a 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....${r}tj......
 
Wouldn't be easier to look at flightware.com. They records the flights with the tail number, speed, altitude, ETA and destination. Or passur.com where you can playback traffic activity at various locations.

José
 
Is that the GARMIN or one of the other profiles?
 
Piloto said:
Wouldn't be easier to look at flightware.com. They records the flights with the tail number, speed, altitude, ETA and destination. Or passur.com where you can playback traffic activity at various locations.

José
Click to expand...

flightaware is mainly IFR traffic. That means it misses 99% of VFR traffic.
 
Datadriver said:
flightaware is mainly IFR traffic. That means it misses 99% of VFR traffic.
Click to expand...

What are you attempting to do? The XRX won't report anything that's not got a transponder and within 2000' and 6 miles or whatever.

You might try a polite message to the Anywhere map folks asking if they will tell you (PROFILE 1 is pretty much their setting).
 
Hilton from WingX told me there was very little diff between profiles 1 & 2

My Av8or gps uses profile 1 but the Wifi adapter that wingx requires, uses profile 2 but WingX nows accepts either profile

I have both the ipad/WingX and AV8OR feed from the one Zaon unit using a Y Cable
 
flyingron said:
What are you attempting to do? The XRX won't report anything that's not got a transponder and within 2000' and 6 miles or whatever.

You might try a polite message to the Anywhere map folks asking if they will tell you (PROFILE 1 is pretty much their setting).
Click to expand...

I'm trying to have a computer on the ground at a small airport log traffic right near the airport to a database. The XRX detects all that stuff ok, I can see it when the display mode is on.

I reached out to support@anywheremap.com several days ago - no response.:dunno:
 
I don't know about the data format, but wouldn't you just expect three pieces of data for each aircraft: azimuth, distance and relative altitude? And those three data points would continue to be broadcast over time while the plane was in range.
 
The ARINC 735A document defines the format and labels for ARINC 429 interface used in TCAS. You may want to look into this. For development and debugging your software you will need to simulate multiple traffic RF signals at different altitudes, range and bearing for the XRX to receive. This simulation is not trivial and not cheap.

José
 
Sam D said:
I don't know about the data format, but wouldn't you just expect three pieces of data for each aircraft: azimuth, distance and relative altitude? And those three data points would continue to be broadcast over time while the plane was in range.
Click to expand...

Makes sense. Especially since the XRX has no GPS, you have to figure it is NOT sending lat/long but rather distance info.:eek:
 
Piloto said:
The ARINC 735A document defines the format and labels for ARINC 429 interface used in TCAS. You may want to look into this. For development and debugging your software you will need to simulate multiple traffic RF signals at different altitudes, range and bearing for the XRX to receive. This simulation is not trivial and not cheap.

José
Click to expand...

I was not going to run simulations. I was going to use a scanner at an airport and have my coworker use his aircraft and come in at different altitudes/range such as you suggest.
 
Datadriver said:
I was not going to run simulations. I was going to use a scanner at an airport and have my coworker use his aircraft and come in at different altitudes/range such as you suggest.
Click to expand...

It is going to be a lot of flying. Where are you going to have the XRX antenna located? The ideal antenna location is on the roof for 360 deg coverage. You may want to look at the possibilty of using ADS-B data from your local UAT ground station. But you may need an ADS-B transponder to trigger the UAT.

José
 
Piloto said:
It is going to be a lot of flying. Where are you going to have the XRX antenna located? The ideal antenna location is on the roof for 360 deg coverage. You may want to look at the possibilty of using ADS-B data from your local UAT ground station. But you may need an ADS-B transponder to trigger the UAT.

José
Click to expand...

Agreed, the ideal location would be on the end of an antenna mast. However, the XRX has no external antenna and is not waterproof. You also have to put it in "air" mode when sitting on the ground because by default it won't send out alerts until it detects a 400ft pressure change.
 
Actually, it will display things in ground mode but the criteria is different (it tries to filter out things that also appear to be on the ground: near your altitude or lower). The 400 pressure change is what causes it to switch to flight mode.
 
flyingron said:
Actually, it will display things in ground mode but the criteria is different (it tries to filter out things that also appear to be on the ground: near your altitude or lower). The 400 pressure change is what causes it to switch to flight mode.
Click to expand...

Thats kind of odd. What happens if you turn the unit off and on in level flight. It will not see traffic at your own altitude or below unless you climb?

José
 
Piloto said:
Thats kind of odd. What happens if you turn the unit off and on in level flight. It will not see traffic at your own altitude or below unless you climb?

José
Click to expand...

Correct, but the same applies for at least some of the panel mounted TCAS units. The user's guide for the TAS600(Avidyne) mentions this too.
 
Datadriver said:
Correct, but the same applies for at least some of the panel mounted TCAS units. The user's guide for the TAS600(Avidyne) mentions this too.
Click to expand...

The TCAS systems that I am familiar use radar altimetry to enable and disable the system. Otherwise they become very annoying when on approach or departure from airports with parallel runways.

José
 
Hello

Does anyone have managed to get that information?
I also want to make my own application.

Thanks!
 
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